China and France to strengthen cooperation in soil environmental technology

China and France will promote deeper cooperation in soil environmental technology in the months to come when the second phase of Ecosystem Services Provided by Contaminated Land International Associated Laboratory (ECOLAND-II ) is launched, said officials and experts from both sides.

The laboratory, once rated by France's new National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment as one of the 12 most successful international cooperation achievements in France over the past 20 years, will continue to work together with China and France to promote the remediation of contaminated soil and the development of new ecological service systems.

Li Yixi, deputy dean of the Office of Science Research and Development, Sun Yat-sen University, said ECOLAND aims to promote global soil conservation and sustainable development, which will not only benefit China and France, but also contribute to the improvement of the global ecological environment.

Stéphanie Ouvrard, director of ECOLAND-2 from French side and a professor at the University of Lorraine, said the main goal of ECOLAND-II in the next five years is to achieve simultaneous ecological restoration and carbon sequestration of contaminated soil, and provide technical solutions for mitigating global climate change.

"Operation of ECOLAND-II will be carried out within the framework of Sino-French cooperation and work closely with research teams from more different countries to jointly promote the development of soil environmental theory and technology research, and contribute to the construction of a sustainable future," said Ouvrard.

Qiu Rongliang, vice-president of South China Agricultural University, said ECOLAND, as a model and one of the successful cases of Sino-French scientific and technological cooperation, provides strong support for the scientific and technological research work of China and France in soil ecological environment protection and global climate change response.

Tang Yetao, a professor with Sun Yat-sen University, Ni Zhuobiao, a professor with South China Agricultural Universit, Marie-Odile Simonnot from the University of Lorraine, and Li Zheng,chief representative of the French research institute in China, signed the contract on behalf of their respective units to formally launch and operate the ECOLAND-II in Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, Guangdong's provincial capital, on Friday.

Xu Jie, deputy director-general of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Science and Technology, said the ECOLAND is one of the first batch of joint laboratories supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, and is a successful example of cooperation between the two countries.

"It's of great significance in promoting sustainable governance of international soil pollution and mitigating global climate change," he said.

"The successful launch of ECOLAND has promoted long-term friendly relations between China and France in scientific and technological cooperation, and the Ministry of Science and Technology will continue to support and promote the further development of the project," Xu added.

Liu Xucheng, deputy director of the Soil Ecology and Environment Division with Guangdong Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment, said win-win cooperation is the right approach to cope with the severe and complex soil pollution problem in the world.

"China has put forward higher requirements for soil ecological environment safety, and the ECOLAND cooperation would help China and France further strengthen communication and cooperation, continuously achieve new breakthroughs in soil control theory and technology and provide China-France solutions for solving soil environmental problems in Guangdong province, China and the entire world," he said.

According to Tang Yetao, the achievements ECOLAND I has made not only represented the success of scientific research cooperation between China and France, but also laid a solid foundation for the operation of ECOLAND II in the following years.

"Sun Yat-sen University has conducted many collaborative projects with French research institutes in the previous decades, and the close cooperative relationship has not only enriched the academic achievements of both parties, but has also nurtured many excellent young scientists, providing strong talent support for the future development of soil environment research," he said.